Cincinnati Preview
January 28, 2011 07:00 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bob Huggins says his players are in a good frame of mind despite suffering a buzzer-beating loss at Louisville on Wednesday and being forced to travel to Cincinnati for Saturday’s game instead of returning home because of the snowstorm that hit the Mid-Atlantic region earlier this week.
“They seem to be in good spirits,” Huggins said Friday afternoon. “We couldn’t practice yesterday because it was our mandatory day off. We got one day’s preparation and their frame of mind really has been pretty good.”
West Virginia continues to have a short bench with only eight scholarship players on the trip and Huggins admits it is altering the way he practices his team.
“We don’t go as much full court because they get run down during the games,” he said. “We’re playing every third day. We do a lot more half court and we backed it down to two hours today.”
According to the coach, reducing the workload for certain players is typical at this time of year anyway.
“A year ago Da’Sean (Butler) played heavy minutes but we tried to make a very conscious effort to get those guys who played a lot of minutes out some so they weren’t pounded as much every day,” he said. “It’s hard to get Da’ out because he wanted to stay in, but I think at the end he started to get out some to save some legs.”
West Virginia (13-6, 4-3) is looking to fix its shooting woes that saw it connect on just 4 of its 22 field goal attempts in the second half of Wednesday’s 55-54 loss at Louisville. West Virginia is facing a Cincinnati team Saturday that is leading the conference in team defense by holding its opponents to just 56.4 points per game.
“I think they’re good,” said Huggins. “They don’t get too spread out and they try and make you score overtop of them and they’ve got great size. It’s hard to score over size.”
The Mountaineers last shot better than 50% from the floor at DePaul on Jan. 4 and have hit less than 35% of their field goal tries in each of their last three games. Huggins says his team’s inability to make open shots is putting added pressure on a defense that has performed very well of late.
“I’m like everybody else I like to see the ball go through the hoop when it’s our guys,” Huggins said. “In the same regard, we’ve got to give ourselves a chance and by defending and rebounding by and large we’ve done that.”
Louisville shot just 37.5% against the Mountaineers on Wednesday night and West Virginia has held opposing teams to 40% or below in five of its last seven games. USF shot just 31.4% against the Mountaineers last Sunday and one of the hottest teams in the league right now, Providence, hit only 31.2% of its field goal tries in a 30-point loss to WVU back on Jan. 13.
“I think that’s why you always have to guard and rebound because it gives you a chance to win,” Huggins said.
West Virginia’s two best scorers, Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant, are looking to regain their shooting touch. In his last four games, Jones is shooting 36.7% (18 of 49), including a 3-of-13 shooting performance at Louisville on Wednesday. Bryant’s shooting woes have lasted much longer, the junior making 16 of his last 67 shot attempts (23.9%) dating back to his season high 25-point performance at Marquette.
“When you think a year ago about how well Kevin Jones shot the 3-ball – I think he led us in 3-point field goal percentage and now he’s shooting 27%,” said Huggins. “Now some of that is their guarding him a little more but he’s had pretty good looks. Truck has shot it very, very poorly. Truck has had days when he shoots it really well. I think ironically probably our most consistent guy shooting the ball has been John Flowers.”
Flowers is 26 of 44 from the floor (59%) in his last five games, including a 10-of-12 shooting performance against Providence on Jan. 13. Flowers right now is the team’s top shooter at 49.2%.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati (18-3, 5-3) is enjoying its best start under fifth-year coach Mick Cronin. The Bearcats are 13-0 at Fifth Third Arena after Wednesday night’s 72-56 win over Rutgers and are looking to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1999 when Huggins was still coaching at UC.
Yancy Gates, a 6-foot-9, 265-pound junior center, poses unique matchup problems with his size and skills around the basket. Gates recorded his fourth double-double of the season against Rutgers with 11 points and 12 rebounds and now shows 10 for his career. One of those was a 22-point, 11-rebound performance against West Virginia at Fifth Third Arena in 2009.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised locally via the Big East Network on FSN Pittsburgh. Mountaineer fans outside the local market can watch the game on ESPN3.com or by ordering it on ESPN Full Court.
MSN’s radio coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. with the Coliseum Countdown. Satellite radio listeners can access the MSN broadcast on Sirius channel 122 and also on The Best of XM channel 143.
Briefly: West Virginia won a school-record six Big East road games last year and is 16-15 in 3 ½ years under Huggins in conference road games … the Mountaineers already have two league road wins this year at DePaul and Georgetown … WVU is 0-3 at Cincinnati since the Bearcats joined the Big East and West Virginia has only won one time in the Queen City and that happened 70 years ago back on Jan. 17, 1941 … Huggins is 0-2 against the Bearcats at his former stomping grounds … Seven of West Virginia’s remaining 11 conference games are against teams currently ranked in the polls … A statistical oddity – center Deniz Kilicli did not try a shot in last Wednesday’s loss to Louisville despite playing 17 minutes, “I think we probably had more to do with it than anything,” said Huggins … At 13 wins and with a very strong RPI, West Virginia is still in good position to achieve its post-season aspirations … Huggins says he’s never been one to try and figure out how many wins his team needs when Selection Sunday rolls around, “We’re going to try and win them all - I’ve never done that,” he said.
“They seem to be in good spirits,” Huggins said Friday afternoon. “We couldn’t practice yesterday because it was our mandatory day off. We got one day’s preparation and their frame of mind really has been pretty good.”
West Virginia continues to have a short bench with only eight scholarship players on the trip and Huggins admits it is altering the way he practices his team.
“We don’t go as much full court because they get run down during the games,” he said. “We’re playing every third day. We do a lot more half court and we backed it down to two hours today.”
According to the coach, reducing the workload for certain players is typical at this time of year anyway.
“A year ago Da’Sean (Butler) played heavy minutes but we tried to make a very conscious effort to get those guys who played a lot of minutes out some so they weren’t pounded as much every day,” he said. “It’s hard to get Da’ out because he wanted to stay in, but I think at the end he started to get out some to save some legs.”
West Virginia (13-6, 4-3) is looking to fix its shooting woes that saw it connect on just 4 of its 22 field goal attempts in the second half of Wednesday’s 55-54 loss at Louisville. West Virginia is facing a Cincinnati team Saturday that is leading the conference in team defense by holding its opponents to just 56.4 points per game.
“I think they’re good,” said Huggins. “They don’t get too spread out and they try and make you score overtop of them and they’ve got great size. It’s hard to score over size.”
The Mountaineers last shot better than 50% from the floor at DePaul on Jan. 4 and have hit less than 35% of their field goal tries in each of their last three games. Huggins says his team’s inability to make open shots is putting added pressure on a defense that has performed very well of late.
“I’m like everybody else I like to see the ball go through the hoop when it’s our guys,” Huggins said. “In the same regard, we’ve got to give ourselves a chance and by defending and rebounding by and large we’ve done that.”
Louisville shot just 37.5% against the Mountaineers on Wednesday night and West Virginia has held opposing teams to 40% or below in five of its last seven games. USF shot just 31.4% against the Mountaineers last Sunday and one of the hottest teams in the league right now, Providence, hit only 31.2% of its field goal tries in a 30-point loss to WVU back on Jan. 13.
“I think that’s why you always have to guard and rebound because it gives you a chance to win,” Huggins said.
West Virginia’s two best scorers, Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant, are looking to regain their shooting touch. In his last four games, Jones is shooting 36.7% (18 of 49), including a 3-of-13 shooting performance at Louisville on Wednesday. Bryant’s shooting woes have lasted much longer, the junior making 16 of his last 67 shot attempts (23.9%) dating back to his season high 25-point performance at Marquette.
“When you think a year ago about how well Kevin Jones shot the 3-ball – I think he led us in 3-point field goal percentage and now he’s shooting 27%,” said Huggins. “Now some of that is their guarding him a little more but he’s had pretty good looks. Truck has shot it very, very poorly. Truck has had days when he shoots it really well. I think ironically probably our most consistent guy shooting the ball has been John Flowers.”
Flowers is 26 of 44 from the floor (59%) in his last five games, including a 10-of-12 shooting performance against Providence on Jan. 13. Flowers right now is the team’s top shooter at 49.2%.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati (18-3, 5-3) is enjoying its best start under fifth-year coach Mick Cronin. The Bearcats are 13-0 at Fifth Third Arena after Wednesday night’s 72-56 win over Rutgers and are looking to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1999 when Huggins was still coaching at UC.
Yancy Gates, a 6-foot-9, 265-pound junior center, poses unique matchup problems with his size and skills around the basket. Gates recorded his fourth double-double of the season against Rutgers with 11 points and 12 rebounds and now shows 10 for his career. One of those was a 22-point, 11-rebound performance against West Virginia at Fifth Third Arena in 2009.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised locally via the Big East Network on FSN Pittsburgh. Mountaineer fans outside the local market can watch the game on ESPN3.com or by ordering it on ESPN Full Court.
MSN’s radio coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. with the Coliseum Countdown. Satellite radio listeners can access the MSN broadcast on Sirius channel 122 and also on The Best of XM channel 143.
Briefly: West Virginia won a school-record six Big East road games last year and is 16-15 in 3 ½ years under Huggins in conference road games … the Mountaineers already have two league road wins this year at DePaul and Georgetown … WVU is 0-3 at Cincinnati since the Bearcats joined the Big East and West Virginia has only won one time in the Queen City and that happened 70 years ago back on Jan. 17, 1941 … Huggins is 0-2 against the Bearcats at his former stomping grounds … Seven of West Virginia’s remaining 11 conference games are against teams currently ranked in the polls … A statistical oddity – center Deniz Kilicli did not try a shot in last Wednesday’s loss to Louisville despite playing 17 minutes, “I think we probably had more to do with it than anything,” said Huggins … At 13 wins and with a very strong RPI, West Virginia is still in good position to achieve its post-season aspirations … Huggins says he’s never been one to try and figure out how many wins his team needs when Selection Sunday rolls around, “We’re going to try and win them all - I’ve never done that,” he said.
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